in my life

So it’s been a while, and I thought we could all use a tally plus a reminder of how the lyrics game works. As you may have noticed from the “What I’m Listening To” portion of the sidebar, I listen to a lot of music, and music plays an important part of my life. I often use lyrics for post titles, because I love how just a few sung words can so fully express thoughts and feelings.

The game works like this: I award two points to the first person who comments with the next line which follows the one I use as a post title. You can throw in artist and song, if you wish, but what gives you points is the next line of lyrics. In the first iteration of the game I gave points to either answer, but now I’m narrowing the rules a little. Other rules: posts close to comments after one hundred twenty days, so that’s as far back as you can go for your points; also, I may occasionally grant one point to someone for random amusing commentary, but the full two points only comes to the provider of lyrics.

Now I know you can all use google, and it would very sad and unsporting if you used google to get your two points, but if you must, so be it. It’s not cheating to listen to the song, of course. Also, I do not consider it cheating to look at my Last.Fm page (or the sidebar, which tells you the most recent tracks I’ve listened to), and that may give a clue. My tastes are pretty wide-ranging, and I’ll try not to stick to a certain musical ghetto, so everyone will get chances to guess.

So I had to do a little reconstructing from old comments to get the current rankings, but I believe they are thus:

• 2 points Sunjunkie
• 2 points Jerm
• 6 points Lanfaedhe
• 3 points Dave Lartigue
• 4 points Elaine

It is still, as they say, anyone’s game. There’s now a nifty tracker on the sidebar, so you can clearly see that Lanfaedhe is the current king daddy of lyrics here at Among Mad People. There’s also a page where you can see the rules, in case you forget them.

At some point, perhaps toward the end of 2010, I’ll declare the game closed, or this round of it closed anyway, and send the winner something wonderful and extraordinary!

Continue reading

Shortest day of the year. I always feel like it’s a victory if I can get this far along without feeling dreadful. This is usually when I tell people I’m going to quit writing/living/breathing/thinking/etc. From here on out the days lengthen again and it won’t be quite so dark. At the beginning of December, when I realized I was starting to feel pretty badly, I picked up some vitamin D. The research on the link between vitamin D and seasonal affective disorder (that which is internet accessible, anyway) seems pretty sketchy, but it’s a ten dollar gamble, whereas buying those lights (though I’ve been contemplating that, too) is like a hundred dollar gamble.

Predictably, I went for the cheap option. And obviously I have no way of scientifically proving that it’s helping me, because we all know how widespread the placebo effect can be and how unreliably one measures one’s own moods…but I really haven’t gone to quite such a dark and bitter place as I usually do at this time of year. I’ve been able to maintain some semblance of social relationships, and I haven’t felt as tired, or as in need of as much sugar and fat. So completely subjectively, the vitamin D supplements are helping. I don’t even take them every day (because I can’t seem to remember to) but even taking them every other or every third day appears to be having a positive effect.

Now there’s a lot of dark and cold left to the season, and maybe I’m being to too quick to call victory. We’ll just see about that.

Still, I wish I’d tried it years ago.

Continue reading

• The bleeding hearts shady shade plants that were crushed by huge pallet full of deck redoing fake wood last summer and I thought were dead dead dead but which came back this year. Even the one that was puny. Though it’s still puny.
• Coming across books I’ve already read in the 50 books poc journal (such as Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi) and realizing that while my reading pattern is pretty white, it’s not completely white, and that’s before I start intentionally seeking more diverse reading!
• Sunshine.
• My leather jacket (sorry, vegans).
• The way my daughter plays “Ode to Joy” on the piano.
• Empanadas.
• One Password.
• Yes, you’re alive songs: “Leeds United” by Amanda Palmer, “Karma Slave” by Splashdown, “Walk the Walk” by Poe, “Up to the Roof” by Blue Man Group, “Flowers” by They Might Be Giants.
• Newfound stability in poses like Utthita Trikonasana.
• Coloring and drawing with Sophia.
• Local Taizé services.

What gives you joy?

Continue reading

I believe I am more susceptible to meme transmission from Transylvanian Dutch than from anyone else. Don’t get me wrong, he passes along plenty that I don’t bother with, but so do most people. But sometimes I get snagged and sucked in, and for whatever reason, it’s usually from one of his.

Here’s the meme (as copied from his blog):

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me. It will be about or tailored to those five lucky “victims.”

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
• I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
• what I create will be just for you.
• it’ll be done this year
• you have no clue what it’s going to be. It may be a poem or story. I may make something all craft-y like. It could even be a CD. (altering the original to add: or a bathbomb!)
• I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you have to put this on your site as well, if you expect me to do something for you!

Remember, chime in, and be forced to participate in your own playground!

Continue reading

I’ve always liked the Babylon 5 intro, where Sheridan (I think it’s Sheridan, anyway) says “It was the year of fire… the year of destruction… the year we took back what was ours. It was the year of rebirth… the year of great sadness… the year of pain… and the year of joy. It was a new age. It was the end of history. It was the year everything changed. The year is 2261. The place: Babylon 5.” Pretty epic, no?

Well I’m not really living an epic here, but I’m looking for a brief way to sum up 2008, so I’m going to steal that format, as a reference for what happened, which I’ll be dropping here for the future.

It was the year:

• of Guitar Hero and of the Wii Fit
• of DIY detergent and the new HE washer
• of many pictures (over 2800! here’s the first of the year: and here’s the last: )
• of finding a decent King Cake in St. Louis, and of the brawl with Oz
• of the cubbies, built by Kurt for Sophia’s room
• of the eclipse, observed from our front door
• of music for Sophia (she performed a flute duet in church and started piano lessons in late August).
• of Disneyworld, of Sophia’s first time at the beach
• of the new Ford Focus, to replace the sadly defunct Cougar
• of the nonos coming to stay for a while
• of pneumonia
• of Sophia playing a flower in a play based on Alice in Wonderland (though she wanted to be Alice, because, as she said, she had the right hair)
• of pierced ears, and the bike that she still cannot ride, and the Snip-Its glamour party
• of fairy ears, and princess camp
• of learning to eat honeysuckle from the bushes in the backyard
• of Chocolatier:Secret Ingredients, Spore and Battle of Wesnoth
• of driving to Texas for Fourth of July
• of Blue Mountain Camp in the Fall and being Nastia Lukin for Halloween (even though the only Olympic events watched in this household were soccer matches)
• of electrotango and Amanda Palmer
• of joining book club, and of making the 52 book challenge (finally!)
• of the new deck and porch
• of finally giving in and getting on FaceBook
• of bad teeth
• of publication, at long last (x2)
• of two sales, doubling the number from 2007
• of learning to make bath bombs
• of playing assistant in the Montessori classroom
• of gorgeous hair ornaments
• of Christmas for the birds
• of MySims and Lego Star Wars
• of rollerskating for the first time, and getting roller skates for Christmas
• of a New Year’s Eve murder party
• of learning to make soup, and wishing I’d known how years ago

All in all, a pretty good year.

Continue reading

I’m published! Again! I know, crazy, who’d think it could happen twice? I’m also a little behind on giving notice here. I updated my facebook when my piece came out on December 4 and it seemed like enough preening at the time. With Christmas season stuff revving up, I’ve not had time to also update here until now. This week in particular has been insanely busy, with extracurricular stuff every single night so far, and more to come.

At any rate, I’m published in a fabulous market: Escape Pod. A dream market, actually, so I can tick off one on my checklist of places where I wish to see my work appear. You may listen to my flash piece, The Way Before absolutely free of charge, distributed on a creative commons license (because we at “Tempered Thoughts” heart creative commons!). If you’re not familiar with Escape Pod and are interested in Science Fiction audio, allow me to recommend some episodes that are among my favorites:

• Episode 99: Start the Clock by Benjamin Rosenbaum.
• Episode 131: Hesperia and Glory by Ann Leckie.
• Episode 157: A Small Room in Koboldtown by Michael Swanwick.
• Episode 175: Reparations by Merrie Haskell.
• Escape Pod Flash Fiction Contest, 2nd Place winner: Skyscrapers by Rachel Swirsky.

One thing that posting this so late allows me to do is to note how super pleased I am by one of the comments that a poster wrote on the entry for my piece. John posted he had a sudden realization at the end, and his realization is completely right and I now believe what I’ve heard other writers say, which is that whether someone likes what you write or not, when they GET it you feel so gratified. Dude, you got it, and I feel great about that! Mild spoilers in his comment, if a 300 word flash piece can be spoiled, so listen before you read if you intend to listen.

A word of advice to those of you who are personal friends and family of mine. It is ok (no, better than ok, ideal really) to simply say “Congratulations.” You do not have to pretend to like what I write. You do not have to criticize what I’ve published, and be fair or objective about it. The time for fixing the piece’s flaws is long past, so you might forbear pointing them out, since plenty of people are available for that, and they aren’t people I need support from, as you are. You can elect to simply rejoice in victory with me. I encourage that! For the record, if you say you read it, but don’t say you like it, then it’s quite obvious to me how you felt about it. So instead of carefully avoiding praising my work, if you disapprove of it, simply say “Congratulations on getting published”, ok? I promise not to put you in the uncomfortable position of pressing you on your opinion, or even asking if you heard the story. Thanks!

Last but not least, in honored Scalzi tradition, you may use the comment thread of this entry to point out the cool stuff you or your friends are doing all across the web. Links encouraged! Let me start you off by pointing you to my niece performing “Silent Night”. She can seriously sing. Listen to my story, and her passionate singing, and post cool links, as the spirit moves you.

Continue reading

I’m sorry I haven’t written here. There was dentist and elections and various and sundry schedule cluttered things, but mostly I’ve been mad busy the last week being a sub assistant in one of the Montessori primary classrooms at my daughter’s school. It has been way cool. Kids are amazing. Montessori is amazing. Going into a classroom and leaving everything at the door for four hours to spend time with children who live completely in the now is TOTALLY amazing (and exhausting). I’m all like ‘woo moveable alphabet, woo north america map, woo number rods, woo button frame’. Also, there’s now a button on my arm. Push it and I say,”Choose a work.” The button on the other arm, when pushed, makes me say,”Walking feet, please.”

It’s absorbing and interesting, but it doesn’t leave much energy for writing. If I decide to go do the training (and I’m still thinking elementary, actually…sweet as the primary kids are, cool as their lessons are, I still had to change two diapers this week and I strongly prefer my students potty-trained –not that I minded it in the short term, with a finite deadline), I don’t think I’ll also be writing. I’m ok with that, essentially. I like kids and I like Montessori better than I like writing. Huh. That seems all turned around crazy because I was pretty sure writing was the thing I liked best in the world. And I was pretty sure I tolerated kids but didn’t really love them, or have any interest in being with them every day. And maybe I still love writing in its own way, but this writing career thing is really unsatisfying and burdensome and not what I’m after, I don’t believe. Like even if I ever ‘made’ it (of itself a statistical unlikelihood) to be a recognizable name that regularly sold stories and maybe even a novel…that doesn’t seem like a gratifying achievement…it’s not something I’m longing for. Whereas there’s at least one rewarding moment to be had EVERY single day in a classroom. There’s disappointments, but there’s no shortage of joy and positive reinforcement either. Writing (the business side anyways, with the submitting and the rejection and the submitting again) is 98% disappointment and 2% joy. It doesn’t seem crazy to want the thing that gives daily joy, does it? I mean I totally feel like a quitter, even just thinking about giving up on the writing thing, but really, what was the point of the experiment if I can’t except a failed outcome? I’ll have to think about all this some more. Huh. I usually think things out first and THEN post them, instead of thinking out loud on the page. This was supposed to be quickie update post, not a muse about life and writing post. It has been a long week if I’ll just spill my guts unpremeditated like that.

Right well, what I really wanted to post about is how Montessori is so coooooool, and I’m more convinced than ever that it was (and is) totally the right thing for my kid, and I want to learn all about it and maybe even teach it to other kids someday. That is all, good night.

Continue reading

My husband was gone to training last week. When he got back, he asked me how much TV the Princess Monkey Toes had watched in his absence.

“None,” I said. Then squinted at the TV, “Wait, maybe we watched some on Sunday night.” He’d left Sunday morning. I was just hedging, though. I don’t believe we actually watched any then, either.

“When you die, the first thing I’m selling is that damn TV,” I told him.

The funny thing is, I hadn’t even noticed we didn’t watch TV all week. TV enters my conscious mind only under pressure from other people, who turn it on or talk about it or tell me I’d love to see this or that. Left on my own, it’s not even part of my mental landscape. It’s not that I’m better than anyone for not watching TV. God knows I have a thousand other ways of wasting my time and I’m not nearly as productive as an absence of TV in my life should make me. It’s just peculiar how deep my non-interest goes. My husband watches TV without me, as does my kid. I never watch TV without one of them (except earlier in the year when I had pneumonia and was too sick to read).

Continue reading